Artemis IV

Artemis IV is planned to be the third crewed mission and the first Moon landing in the NASA-led Artemis lunar exploration program, marking the first crewed Moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission is planned for early 2028. The landing will use either SpaceX's Starship HLS or Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The lander will be launched first. Once it is ready, a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will launch an Orion spacecraft carrying the four astronaut crew members. With Starship, both vehicles are planned to dock in low Earth orbit and Starship will push both to a lunar orbit. With Blue Moon, SLS launches Orion towards the Moon to dock in a lunar orbit. With either option, two astronauts will transfer to the lander, descend to the lunar surface and conduct extravehicular activities there. They will then ascend back to the Orion waiting in lunar orbit, which will return the four astronauts to Earth. As of March 2026, NASA is targeting early 2028 for launch. As an alternative plan, the spacecraft could meet in an elliptical polar orbit with coplanar lines of apsides and dock. This orbit has a perilune of 100 kilometers (62 mi; 54 nmi), minimizing the number and duration of burns the HLS must perform to reach the lunar surface, and an apolune of 6,500 kilometers (4,000 mi; 3,500 nmi) to accommodate the limited propulsion of Orion's European Service Module, which cannot depart from a low lunar orbit.